Friday, February 28, 2014

Warm French Green Lentils With Poached Eggs

Have you
had enough of winter yet? I know I’m daydreaming about shedding my bulky coat.
However, this weekend’s impending snowstorm is another opportunity to make a
dish that has fortified me during this snowier-than-usual winter. These delightful Warm French Green
Lentils topped with a poached egg are an ideal snow-day meal. Given the weekend
snowfall prediction, I’m sharing them with you just in time.

This
recipe is by way of Megan from the lovely blog, A Sweet Spoonful.She writes beautifully about how her boyfriend (now fiancée) made his "famous lentils" one of the first times he cooked for her, and how she joked that she'd marry him for his lentils alone. I first made the
dish simply because I had everything on hand and it was snowing too hard to run
outside to the store for other groceries.However once I tasted these lentils for myself, I understood how they
could be commitment-worthy!

I love
little French green lentils, which are more flavorful than their often-mushy
brown counterparts.Also known as
lentilles du Puy, these French green gems hold their shape well in salads and
soups.They are often an
accompaniment to traditional French bistro dishes such as salmon or a farmhouse
stew with garlic sausage.

You
probably already have most of the ingredients for this dish in your fridge.A quartet of finely chopped onions,
diced carrots, paper-thin slices of garlic and celery melt into an aromatic
base for this dish.A bay leaf and
a few sprigs of thyme add another layer of flavor as the lentils simmer.But the real magic comes from generous
dollops of Dijon mustard and a splash of red vinegar towards the end of the
cooking time, transforming this quietly simmering dish into something that will
make your taste buds sit up and take notice.

I
recently invited Cenovia, Alissa and Kristina for dinner, reasoning that if we
ate a salad followed by these lentils, we
could guiltlessly indulge in Clementine Cake for dessert. I’d hoped my
friends wouldn’t turn up their noses at my humble main course offering and think,
“What kind of lame dinner party has a bowlful of lentils as the
centerpiece??”But since certain
friends of mine love anything with an egg on top, I hoped I wouldn’t get too
many complaints.

After one
bite of our main course, all three of them were swooning.The comments ranged from, “This is
exactly what I needed on a frigid day like this!” to “Best bowl of comfort food ever.
And it even has an EGG on it!” For weeks they’ve begged me to post the recipe
on Kitchen Fiddler—so here it is!

Megan’s
original recipe calls for a fried egg on top, which I’m sure would be delicious
too, but I’m such a sucker for a poached egg that I go that route instead.True confession: before heating up my
leftover lentils today, I diced a bit of thick-cut bacon, cooking it in a
skillet till it began to crisp.After pouring off the rendered fat, I added the lentils to the skillet
and heated it all together.Oh
sweet Lord… I may never be able to make the non-bacon version again!

2
tablespoons olive oil

1 medium
yellow onion, finely diced

4 large
cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 large
carrot, peeled and finely chopped

2 large
stalks celery, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 cup
French green lentils

1 bay
leaf

A few
sprigs of thyme

2
tablespoons Dijon mustard

1-1/2
tablespoons red wine vinegar

2
teaspoons kosher salt (a little less if using regular sea salt)

¾
teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

Poached
eggs, for topping (optional)

Chopped
flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Bring 4
cups of water to a boil in a kettle while you start the dish.

Heat the
oil over medium-heat in a heavy medium-sized saucepan.When it starts to shimmer, add the
onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until it begins to
soften.Add the garlic and cook
for another minute, stirring constantly.Stir in the carrots and celery and cook for another minute.

Add the
lentils, stirring well to coat them with the diced vegetables.Pour in just enough boiling water to
cover the mixture by a ½-inch.Add
the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and bring liquid back to a boil.When the mixture is boiling, reduce
heat to low and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

After 20
minutes, stir in the Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes with
the pan partially covered, until the lentils are cooked but still have a bit of
chewy texture to them.Remove from
heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Taste lentils
for seasoning, adding more salt, pepper or vinegar as needed.Divide between warm bowls, topping each
mound of lentils with a poached egg (if desired) and a scattering of chopped
flat-leaf parsley.Serves 4 as a
main course.